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Editor’s note: This is the fifth in a series of six articles, each highlighting one of the 2024 inductees to the Franklin Community Wall of Excellence.

The Franklin Community Wall of Excellence gained six new names via its 2024 class.

Those names included the late Charles “Chip” Fisher Kingery Jr., Dr. Chiquita L. Seaborne, Daniel T. Balfour, Dr. Amy K. Cheatham, James P. Councill III and Wyatt B. Durrette Jr.

The eighth annual Franklin Community Wall of Excellence Induction Dinner and Ceremony took place Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Cypress Cove Country Club.

As noted in the event’s program, through the vision of some local Franklin City Public Schools alumni and school personnel, the Franklin Community Wall of Excellence Inc. was established in 2016 as a program to honor former Franklin and Hayden high school students, administrators, teachers and staff who have excelled or distinguished themselves through personal and/or professional success, as well as to recognize those community members who have made significant contributions to the public schools in Franklin.

“The Wall” is located at Franklin High School, adjacent to the gymnasium, a Wall of Excellence news release stated. Names and photos of each inductee are displayed for generations of Franklin High School students and community members to see as they walk by on their way to class or an event at FHS.

CHARLES ‘CHIP’ FISHER KINGERY JR.

Kingery was inducted onto the Wall of Excellence in the category of Outstanding Career.

Wall of Excellence officials noted in the induction dinner and ceremony’s printed program that Kingery, who was called “Chip” by everyone who knew him, “lived a remarkable life that took him to places far from Franklin.”

The program noted that he was born in Richmond and graduated from Franklin High School in 1972. While at FHS, he was active in many extracurricular clubs and sports programs and served as president of his class during his junior and senior years. He was also editor of the FHS yearbook in his senior year.

Kingery’s sister, Donna Hudgins, introduced him at the induction dinner and ceremony.

“He would be delighted to be here,” she said.

She first described who he was through his relationships.

“He was a beloved son of Charles and Naomi Kingery, sometimes giving them trouble,” she said. “I’ll say he was a perfect middle child.”

Hudgins noted that Chip was a brother to her and their younger brother Terry; he was a husband to Jean; a father to Naomi, Keturah and Noah; a grandfather to Jai and twins Lily and Jada; a cousin to many; and a friend to all.

“His years were immeasurable,” she said. “He lived 64 years from 1954 until 2018.”

Wall of Excellence officials noted in the program that throughout his high school years and also later as a college student, Kingery was actively engaged in the community through the Youth Council of Franklin Baptist Church.

The program next cited some of his work experience and post-high school education.

He eventually became the youth pastor at Franklin Baptist. He also worked at Leggett’s Department Store and his father Charlie’s drug store on Main Street, Parker Drug Company.

He attended the University of Richmond and graduated from there in 1976 with a degree in education. He later received a Master of Theology degree, and then he received a Doctor of Ministry degree in 1988 from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas.

The program added that by then he had already been ordained at Franklin Baptist, his home church.

“His life was extraordinary,” Hudgins said. “It was full of ‘chips,’ I like to say, or small parts. He was quite an artist, he loved to draw and paint and did notecards and brochures and so forth. He loved music.”

She noted that he sang in the Franklin Baptist choir for many years and later went on to sing solos and duets in churches all over.

She praised his sense of humor.

“His humor was something else,” she said. “He resolved crazy matters with tremendous humor. He lightened the subject, and he was just plain fun as a person.

“He was enthusiastic about life, about many things in life, and he was a lover of people,” she continued. “As he matured, he ‘chipped’ away with his talents, and he began to serve people.”

Wall of Excellence officials stated in the program, “Chip dedicated his life to serving others in a career that moved between the United States and India.”

Kingery’s biography in the program then shared details of how he devoted his adult life to mission work.

He first answered the call to foreign mission work while a college student, serving as a summer missionary to Bangladesh. 

Then he answered a call to serve as a Southern Baptist missionary to Bangalore, India, from 1977-79.

The mid-1980s proved particularly momentous for Kingery. 

He got married to his wife Jean in 1985. 

Not long after, they founded a work that became known as proVISION ASIA, a Bangalore-based ministry that provides mobility aids, physiotherapy, English and computer training, counseling and a special needs school for people and families affected with disability.

Wall of Excellence officials noted that this ministry still continues after its being founded 39 years ago.

Hudgins noted that her brother was also a teacher who taught as an adjunct at Wake Forest University and American University and in churches and in schools.

“Chip interwove his work in India with a multi-faceted career working with a wide range of international nonprofit organizations,” officials stated in the program before listing some details of that career:

• He was associate director of the southwest office of UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund;
• He was director for Asia for World Hunger Relief; and
• He was international director of Joni and Friends, a California-based nonprofit organization founded by Joni Eareckson Tada that is “committed to reaching and serving people with disabilities with practical help.”

In describing her brother’s career, Hudgins said, “Most importantly, he served the most vulnerable people, the most disadvantaged and the most disabled. And best of all, he respected them.”

Kingery returned from India in fall of 2017 with plans for future mission efforts, the program noted, but he was not able to undertake those efforts himself due to a serious health matter. Diagnosed with a rare kidney cancer, he passed away Sept. 10, 2018.

Hudgins recalled 2018 when she said that “in later life when the chips were down and he was facing terminal kidney cancer, he taught us so much about life. He taught us acceptance, optimism and love.

“Finally,” she added, “I’d like to think that this point by John Wesley is much like Chip’s ‘bargaining chip’ to this day and a lesson for all of us — Do all the good that you can, by all the means that you can, in all the ways that you can, in all the places that you can, to all the people that you can, as long as you ever can.

“And I’d like to think that these words symbolize some of Chip’s legacy along with his family,” she said in conclusion.

Wall of Excellence officials echoed some of Hudgins’ points when they stated, “Chip lived with enthusiasm, humor and love, and he is missed by all who knew him. His legacy continues through his family and the work of his beloved proVISION ASIA.”

Kingery’s biography in the program noted that he is survived by Jean, his wife of 33 years; his daughters, Naomi and Keturah; and his son, Noah.

Accepting the induction on behalf of Kingery was his wife Jean and his brother Terry.

Terry spoke first. When he and the rest of the family heard that Chip was going to be inducted posthumously onto the Wall of Excellence, he decided that he had to call Chip’s best friends and tell them the good news and that the family wanted them at the ceremony. But he ran into a practical and logistical problem.

“Chip didn’t have any best friends, because everybody was his best friend,” he said. “I’ve only met a few people in my life that I can say, ‘Wow, everybody loves him,’ and ‘Everybody was his friend.’ And that’s to me, as the young brother, how it was.”

Terry said a neat thing about Chip was that he was a renaissance teenager.

“That means he was into everything,” Terry said. “He could be an artist, he could sing, he could talk, he could do anything he wanted to do, anything he put his mind to, and he would put his mind to things, and when he did it was just incredible.”

Terry noted that Franklin High’s French class took Chip to France on an international trip.

“It opened his eyes — Franklin High School did that,” Terry said. “It opened his eyes to the world.”

Terry noted that Chip ended up living most of the rest of his life overseas.

“He dedicated his life to helping people,” Terry said. 

He closed his remarks by noting that while his brother lived abroad and traveled the world, “he never forgot Franklin High School, and he never forgot his roots, and he never forgot the people here.”

Jean opened her remarks by reinforcing Terry’s last comment.

“Chip loved Franklin,” she said. “When I first met him in Dallas, Texas, he was like, ‘We’ve got to get to Franklin.’ I’m like, ‘Tennessee?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, no, Franklin, Virginia!’”

Reflecting on her life with Chip, Jean said, “Our life was always together. That’s what’s been so hard these last six years, because we did so much together. We had a life together, we had ministry together with proVISION ASIA for 35 years.

“And yes, Chip was the only person I’ve ever met who could be happy just sitting on a dirt floor with a cup of who knows where that water and tea came from and enjoying just speaking into people’s lives,” she continued. “And then the next day he was invited to Delhi to the ambassador’s house. So he could switch from a tuxedo to a lungi,” which is a skirt-like piece of clothing worn by men and women from South Asia.

“So he loved people, and so we did ministry together,” Jean said. “We also started a Christian international church, a fellowship, about 23 years ago, and today it still has about 300 people every Sunday in Bangalore. And so that was exciting to be a part of that fellowship together.”

Jean said that she and Chip loved people together.

“We loved each other together, we loved our children, our grandchildren together,” she said. “Oh how happy he was holding those twins, couldn’t figure out who was who, but he was so happy when they were born in Bangalore also, because Keturah and (her husband) Danny had joined us to start a special needs school called Mitra, which means ‘friendship.’ And so we were all together.

“But I will just say that we took a little bit of side change 20 years ago,” Jean continued, “because Joni Eareckson Tada and her husband Ken came to Bangalore, and she asked Chip, ‘Hey, would you ever consider coming to Agoura Hills, California, and being my international director?’ He said, ‘Yeah, that’d be great.’”

She noted that Chip held that very prestigious job for five years, during which he was overseeing work in 23 countries.

Then she explained that Chip wanted to return to India and their work there.

“So we went back and had great plans, (but) we saw quickly that the government was changing and we needed to leave Indian nationals in charge of the ministry,” she said. “And Keturah and Danny and their children were still there, so we came home (in fall of 2017) to make some different plans of writing and teaching, and God’s plans were different.”

Summing up Chip’s life and career, Jean said, “His legacy will continue on through the international church but most importantly through proVISION ASIA, with 24 active staff that are serving really those that are the untouchables of India, because you see, they are created in the image of God, and they have value and worth.”

She offered an acronym for Chip’s name.

“The ‘C’ stands for Charity of Christ, the ‘H’ stands for Hope in Christ, the ‘I’ stands for his Identity in Christ, and the ‘P’ stands for Presence of Christ,” she said.

She noted that if Chip were at the induction ceremony giving the acceptance speech, he would humbly thank everyone and conclude by saying, “A good time was had by all.”